Mdiv marriage/family specialization

Dear members, I continue to be impressed by the collective knowledge by board members particularily as concerns dl training for the ministerial context.are members aware of any Mdiv programs with a marriage and family concentration or counselling concentration. I have found southern christian university so far., but am trying to generate options.
many thanks

 

You might try Liberty University; they offer a low-res M.Div., though I don't know that they offer a marriage and family therapy specialization.

Good luck!


Cheers,

 

Several seminaries have MDiv programs with marriage and family concentrations. Are you looking for a program that is completely online or would you settle for a program with residency requirements which possibly has a "distance" component? What do you want to do with the degree? If in the US, are you going to seek a state counseling or psychology license? If so, which state? Is there a particular approach to "marriage and family" that you'd like to pursue? What is your church background? What are the financial issues?

Sorry about all the questions -- but they all affect the path you choose.

 

thank you for your responses.dl is of course the best, but low residency is do -able. state licensing is not an issue as I am a licensed psychologist. I am really seeking to combine further study in both the mft and divinity area s. I prefer an Anglo catholic denominational approach but realize that I am going to have to be flexible in order to find these combined program components.
thanks for your thoughtful questions.

 

My alma mater, Western CB Seminary, offers an mdiv with a concentration in family ministry. I believe 30 units must be taken on campus. Residency could be finished in one year or two summers I would think. The other could be done by DL.

 

Welcome back, Bill! How goes everything?


Cheers,

 

The Episcopal seminary in Austin, Texas has a program in counseling.

I don't know of any of the other Episcopal schools in the US with counseling concentrations (which is interesting because they've bought heavily into a therapeutic model of pastoral ministry -- I think they're mostly too small to support additional programs).

Here are some options. BTW, unless you need the MDiv for a particular reason you might consider, as well, some of the MA degrees that seminaries have for people doing specialized ministry.

Phoenix Seminary

Fuller (the largest non-denominational seminary) has several options through their school of psychology -- as well as through their School of Theology. Some classes can be taken from a distance but there are residency requirements.

Less traditional, but more oldline denominational, is the Graduate Theological Foundation. No MDiv but they have a masters in pastoral counseling.

Gordon Conwell has a masters in Christian counseling.

Bill already mentioned the Western option.

Luther Rice and Trinity Theological Semiary, two big names in distance education, have counseling programs.

I'm sure there are others but you might just have to work you way through the list (most of these are fairly traditional schools). Nothing stands out at the masters level as being truly exceptional in this area. A few of these programs (which shall remain nameless since they already receive so much attention on this list) stand out (at least in my mind) as being a waste of time and money. Fuller probably has the most to offer in terms of program and breadth. And an Anglo-Catholic would not suffocate there. But they are expensive and they require some form of residency.

 

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Hi Tom

Thanks. I'm doing well. Just about ready to mail in the dissertation to UZ.

 

once again thank you for members replies.I will check them out immediately. I will note that in my initial dl search I came across a fair number of non accredited denomination specific programs but my overall sense was-limited utility and less educational value and in one or two cases a money maker or source of revenue for the denomination.once again many thanks.

 

You might also try Charles Sturt University in Australia; it offers heaps of distance learning programs, has strong Anglican influences, and is inexpensive to boot.

Good luck!


Cheers,

 

Check out Southern Christian University. They are the first and only online M.Div, D.Min, Ph.D. COAMFTE accreditated program in Marriage and Family Therapy.

 

Remember that Trinity is not accredited. It is seeking recognized accreditation and is a candidate for such.

If you want a truly distance M.Div. with no residency, you might check out some schools accredited by TRACS.

Good luck!